belize times march 23, 2014

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The Belize Times The Truth Shall Make You Free Established 1957 23 MARCH 2014 | ISSUE NO: 4887 www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00 SCAN HERE CALL THE ELECTIONS NOW!! Pg. 8 BTB’S WORST KEPT SECRET Millions of Dollars in Deficit Pg. 7 Pg. 6 FRAUDULENT UDP CONVENTIONS! BARROW’S BOGUS BUDGET Pg. 8 NEW SENATORS BRING FIRE & FURY Pg. 3 (L - R) Senator Lisa Shoman, Senator Elect Anthony Sylvestre Jr., Party Leader Francis Fonseca and Sen- ator Elect Patrick Andrews Delroy Cuthkelvin Alberto August

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Belize Times March 23, 2014

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Page 1: Belize Times March 23, 2014

The Belize TimesThe Truth Shall Make You Free

Established 1957

23 MARCH 2014 | ISSUE NO: 4887 www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00

SCAN HERE

Pg. 4

CALL THE ELECTIONS NOW!!

Pg. 8Pg. 3 No Escape for Penner!

Pg. 11

BTB’s WorsT KePT secreT

Millions of Dollars in Deficit Pg. 7

Pg. 6FrAuduLENT udP CONvENTIONS!

Barrow’s Bogus Budget

Pg. 8

New seNators BriNg Fire & Fury

Pg. 3(L - R) Senator Lisa Shoman, Senator Elect Anthony Sylvestre Jr., Party Leader Francis Fonseca and Sen-

ator Elect Patrick Andrews

Delroy Cuthkelvin Alberto August

Page 2: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 202

PM supports salary deductions, claims

teachers were being “utterly unreasonable”

Continued on page 8

serving Belize since 1957 as the longest continuous newspaper.

Founder: Rt. Hon. George Cadle Price, People’s United Party Leader Emeritus

EDITOR

Alberto Vellos

LAYOUT/GRAPHIC ARTIST

Chris Williams

OFFICE ASSISTANT

Roberto Peyrefitte

Printed and Published ByThE BElIzE TImEs PREss lTD.

Tel: 671-8385#3 Queen StreetP.O. BOX 506

Belize City, BelizeEmail: [email protected]

[email protected]

The Belize TimesThe Truth Shall Make You Free

Established 1957

14 APR 2013 | ISSUE NO: 4840 www.belizetimes.bz | $1.00

SCAN HERE

CANADIAN DOLLAR (CAD): $ 0.56

Guatemala Quetzal (GTQ): $ 3.94

Sterling Pound (GBP): $ 0.30

Euro (EUR) : $ 0.37

Eastern Caribbean (XCD):$ 1.36

Barbados (BBD): $ 1.01

United States (USD): $ 0.50

CHINESE YUAN (CNY): $ 3.04

Trinidadian (TTD) : $ 3.22

INDIAN RUPEE (INR): $ 31.14Exchange rate

of One Belize Dollar

6 Feb

LOCAL wEAthER26 Mar 27 Mar26 Mar25 Mar24 Mar23 Mar22 Mar21 Mar

Faber punishes teachers for BNTU

rally

oPiNioNout out

! !

Cry Baby Delroy!

Crimea: Lessons for

Belize!DEAR EDItOR,The ongoing crisis

in Ukraine presents strategic lessons for Belize which should

guide our response to the “east-ward drift” by Guatemala.

Ukraine has for the last couple of years been a covert battlefield for the so called West as they try to penetrate Russia’s sphere of influence. Under the guise of de-mocracy the West supported, if not orchestrated, the overthrow of a democratically elected government solely because that government was, in their view, eastward lean-ing. It is safe to say that the West in their zeal to topple Yanukovych, severely miscalculated the likely Russian response.

Western leaders have been quick to draw similarities between Russia’s Crimean experiment and Germany’s invasion of Poland. There are significant differences of course, but this is not the focus of my treatise.

The Crimean conundrum is rooted in the large Russophone population in Ukraine--about 17%. Ukrainians of Russian decent nev-er fully assimilated into the overall national body politic thus they re-mained oriented toward Russia. When the West inspired the over-throw of the duly elected govern-ment of the Ukraine, Russia took immediate measures to maintain its sphere of influence. The pretext was that the “new” Ukraine was westward leaning and thus posed a serious threat to Ukrainians of Rus-sian decent. Russia therefore had

no choice but to intervene in Crimea in order to pro-tect its people. The West disputes that such threats exist but what is done is done: strategic battle plans are now being drawn up on both sides of the Atlantic!

The first lesson for Belize must be that citizen protection has been and can always be used as a pretext for extraterritorial military action. The United States used this very pre-text to invade both Grenada and Panama.

The second lesson is that when this pretext is used it takes a great deal of time for the international community to respond dip-lomatically and even longer for them to respond mili-tarily, if at all. In any event history tells us that such response rarely returns the status quo ante bellum (that which existed before war).

I have been raising the alarm for many years about the eastward drift by Gua-temala and the risks posed

thereby. Today Guatema-lans make up 6.03% of the Belizean population, this is more than our entire Garifu-na population (4.6%). If one examines the demograph-ics at the district level the extent of the silent invasion is even more alarming. Gua-temalans make up 7.75% of the population of the Stann Creek District, 10.42% of the Cayo District and a whopping 11.4% of the Toledo District. In addition to those captured by the 2010 census, there are hun-dreds more in the Chiquibul wreaking havoc on our nat-ural resources and tram-pling our sovereignty is the process.

I will venture to say that many of the Guatemalans in Belize have not assimi-lated into our body politic. They are still oriented to-ward Guatemala and no amount of “papeles” will change that (not when they continue to learn in school that “Belice es nuestro”). To many Guatemalans they have simply moved from one department to another. Perhaps this is the danger

that Section 29(3) of the Belize Constitution was designed to avoid.

Sadly ever since independence, the evil ones amongst us who lust for political power have repeatedly vio-lated the Constitution by giving citizenship to Guatemalans in ex-change for votes.

Soon the OAS in collusion with our very own Foreign Minister will attempt to force a referendum upon us. Such a referendum will place Belize in a bind. If the Guatemalans are al-lowed to vote we risk a 6 point swing in favour of the ICJ giveaway. If we disallow them the right to vote, we may be accused by Gua-temala of mistreating their people thus giving the oligarchs sufficient pretext to come in and “protect” their people à la Crimea.

I have said enough.

Major Lloyd Jones

DEAR EDItOR,As a voter in the

Stann Creek West di-vision, I now consider Delroy Cuthkelvin as

no politician and as the UDP’s big-gest cry baby!

Nobody was plotting against or standing in Delroy’s way. In

fact if you listened to Delroy’s ra-dio ad just a few days before the convention, you would think that Delroy was the chosen candidate and that he was well financed and enjoyed the blessing of the party leadership. He even boasted to have a committee of 90 members, but on convention day only got 19 votes.

But Delroy seemed hard to believe his own propaganda and he did the smart thing when he bowed out and cried foul. He blamed UDP Chairman Alberto August, who I agree ain’t no saint and Melvin Hulse, who is a “tyaad old horse” as their own nasty mouth Joe Bradley would say.

My point is that this is Del-roy’s second beating. First is the Albert Division against Morrison and now in Stann Creek West. Judging by the 19 votes he got, it’s time for Delroy to shed some pounds and know his political lim-itations.

Sincerely,No cry baby supporter

Belize City, March 18, 2014Patrick Faber never misses

a beat to show Belizeans how petty, unreasonable and vin-dictive he is.

The hundreds of teachers who exercised their right and defended their cause by partic-ipating in last week Wednes-day’s Belize National Teachers’ Union demonstration outside the National Assembly as the Prime Minister Dean Barrow read his lame budget have been punished by the Barrow

Page 3: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 3 03

“Penner Got To Go” rally in San Ignacio on Sunday

Francis Fonseca

UDP Rots AwayNew seNators

BriNg Fire & Fury

Belize City, March 20, 2014PUP Leader Hon. Francis Fon-

seca said he expects fire and fury from his new appointments to the Senate, which were announced this afternoon at a press briefing at the Party Headquarters, Indepen-dence Hall.

Formidable Attorney Anthony Sylvestre Jr. and community ac-tivist/Belmopan Standard Bearer Patrick Andrews are the two new Senators, who will join the Lead Opposition Senator Hon. Lisa Sho-man.

When addressing the media, Sylvestre said that it is a privilege to serve as a Senator for the PUP and that he will take the job were seriously. He criticized the Barrow Administration as being a “Govern-ment in an abyss” and one that has “lost the legal and moral au-thority to govern”.

He said the Senate has the le-gal authority to flush out corruption and wrongdoing, and he will dedi-cate his energy to ensuring greater accountability of the Government on behalf of the Belizean people.

Andrews agreed with his new Senate colleague, adding that the threat which the UDP Government poses to Belize’s democracy calls for individuals to rise up for the country.

Andrews said he will be par-ticularly focused on doing more to advocate for new reform measures that will ensure transparency and accountability of the Government.

Senator Shoman welcomed the new Senators, saying she views them as “new shiny swords with which to cut through the rhetoric that comes out of the Senate”.

Senator Shoman pointed out that the work of the Senate is se-rious business and she looks for-ward to planning the way forward to ensure that the Belizean people have an even louder voice through the Opposition members.

PUP Leader Hon. Fonseca said he had indicated to the Party’s Ex-ecutive that Senators will serve for two years, after which he will eval-uate their work and consider new appointments. He indicated full confidence that the new Senators will bring energy to Party’s work in the Senate.

Hon. Fonseca thanked the out-going Senators Hon. Karen Bodden and Collet Montejo, who will con-tinue to work for the Party in other areas.

The new appointments have been submitted to the Governor General and a date for an official swearing in is pending.

Belize City, March 20, 2014Like a cancer spreading its

deadly contamination, corruption is slowly rotting away Dean Bar-row’s United Democratic Party.

The most recent bombshell to hit the UDP as a result of this cancer is the resignation of for-mer Prime Minister and former UDP Leader Manuel Esquivel and his wife Kathy Esquivel from all of their posts held in the Barrow Ad-ministration.

Former PM Esquivel was ap-pointed as a senior advisor to Prime Minister Dean Barrow in the Ministry of Finance. He was also a Government-appointed Director on the boards of Belize Telemedia Limited and Belize Sugar Indus-tries. His wife was the Chairman of the National AIDS Commission.

The resignations followed the

sudden announcement that the Es-quivel’s most political daughter, Lau-ra Esquivel, was leaving the Belize Tourism Board as Director. She had been ousted by her own employees who said she lacked leadership.

The Esquivels have said that they believe Barrow should have stood up for their daughter.

It is expected that Barrow will push away any conversation over his Party’s fallout with its former Leader. Barrow will simply say it’s an internal matter which the UDP will deal with, and will claim that his Government will proceed as normal. While Bar-row may wish things remain normal, he knows this will not be the case.

The Esquivels resignations are in defense of their daughter, but also about a rejection of the levels of cor-ruption taking root in the UDP. The UDP has been hijacked by a bunch of

corrupt politicians and their lackeys running the party. The head of this rabid group hails from up north and he is slowly taking over Barrow’s UDP. The Esquivels have taken note and wants no more. Their message to Barrow: take heed and don’t to us for help!

Manuel Esquivel

Page 4: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 4

Officer Down!

04

PUP at 60% of threshold

The 2014/15 Budget - Some Facts, Figures & Notes

on the

By Francis w. FonsecaThe Budget presented on

March 7th, 2014 by the Prime Minister is a Budget disconnect-ed and divorced from the Belizean reality being lived on a daily basis by families across our Country.

It is a Budget that offers no hope and no plan to grow the economy and create jobs for our people.

It is a Budget that celebrates poverty and dependence.

The Belizean reality in 2014 is thousands of lost jobs, busi-nesses closed, homes auctioned or repossessed, loans defaulted on, children out of school, the sick dying because of unaffordable healthcare, families unable to keep the lights on and the stove burning and increasingly unable to put food on the table .

In 2013, GDP growth fell to 0.7%, the worst economic perfor-mance in more than 20 years for Belize. The production of all our major crops: Banana, Sugarcane,

and Citrus fell significantly. Petroleum production con-tinued its downward spiral falling by a whopping 23% in 2013.

At the same time, there were significant increases in the prices of food, health-care and transportation.

Foreign Direct Invest-ment in 2013 was at its low-est level in the past 6 years of a UDP Government.

Despite the restruc-turing of the “Superbond”, the public debt continues to grow and now stands at $2.161B. New loans in 2013 amounted to some $244M with Petrocaribe Funds ac-counting for $143M of that total.

For FY 2014/15 the fol-lowing is projected:

TOTAL EXPENDITURE: $1.013B- this represents a 6.2% increase over 2013

TOTAL REVENUE &

GRANTS: $956M-this represents a 4% increase over 2013.

OVERALL DEFICIT: $57MLOAN AMORTIZATION:

$69MTOTAL FINANCING NEEDED:

$126MIt is projected that this financ-

ing gap will be met as follows:$48M in Loans from multi-

lateral partners to finance CAP III projects

$20M in budgetary support from Taiwan

$59M in drawdowns from PetroCaribe financing

The Belizean Economy is on life support getting emergency treatment from Taiwan and Vene-zuela.

The 2014/15 Budget offers no solutions to the serious economic challenges facing Belize.

With an increasing reliance on tax revenue, it further chokes the private sector out of the real economy.

It offers no measures to improve productivity and competitiveness.

It offers no policy strategy for lower cost for the productive sector.

It offers no plan for expanding ex-ports relative to imports.

The Budget boasts of Infrastructure spending. Well after 5 years of neglect it is spending what is long overdue. The problem is that the spending is inequi-table and bogged down in by the hus-tling of a few UDP cronies. Hundreds of millions spent to protect UDP Belize City Southside political seats while our rural communities and district towns get crumbs!

The PM boasts about BOOST AND PANTRY. Life is haad and our people need help but don’t boast about pushing more people into poverty. Where are the jobs so our people can live with pride and dignity?

The salary adjustment for teachers and public officers is overdue and rightly deserved. This UDP government has dis-respected and demonized our teachers and public officers. This is no salary in-crease, this is just allowing our teachers and public officers to catch up with infla-tion and they are still way behind.

The last real increase in Salary came from the PUP in the amount of 30% over three years from 2003 to 2005. 10% per year.

The 2014/15 Budget offers no change of course, no change of direction, no jobs plan, no investment strategy, no plan to reduce the cost of living, no tax reform, no sense of purpose or hope!!

YOU CAN TALK PRETTY MR. PRIME MINISTER BUT THE BELIZEAN PEOPLE REALITY UGLY BAD!!!!

Page 5: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 5

of Quicksand, Parasites and Puppets

05

editoriaL

Dean Barrow once described his second term in office as quick-sand. His first four years were the glory years: an extended honeymoon involving lobster dinners on Miami Beach, mil-

lion dollar legacies for the first Mrs. Dean Barrow, plush jobs for the kids and the highest judicial ap-pointment for his Brother, Denys. Yes, Barrow was able to get away with anything and everything.

Barrow’s second term in office however, has been nothing short of an utter disaster. With only a slim two seat majority, Barrow’s grip on power is now at the mercy of his lawless, his desperate, his con-niving, his incompetent, and yes his corrupt UDP Ministers.

Only months after winning the 2012 general elections, Elvin Penner used the two seat slim ma-jority as leverage to force Barrow into appointing him Minister of State with power to sign nationality certificates and passports.

According to the Laws of Belize, the power to sign Belizean nationality certificates is reserved exclu-sively for the substantive Minister, who in this case is Godwin Hulse. In essence then, Barrow bent over backwards to accommodate Penner so that Penner would not “cause problems” for his leadership. Bar-row authorized and Hulse recognized.

Edmund Castro also capitalized on the two seat slim majority by using tax payer dollars to fund his political campaign, repair his bicycles and his bud-dy’s teeth, give his son a salary for doing nada and having lavish brams, all at our expense.

With Barrow’s government almost completely submerged in a quicksand of corruption and in-competence, one man, has been making the most of the embattled United Democratic Party. One para-site has been exerting his influence, his power, his money, OUR money, to hijack control of the UDP.

Gaspar “Gapi” Vega, the Deputy Prime Minister, who sits at the helm of the most corrupt Ministry and whose brother has been bestowed with carte blanche to do as he pleases with our soon-to-be extinct rainforest, has been having a field day, stra-

tegically picking off old UDP hacks one by one.Herman Longsworth, who supported Patrick Faber

for Deputy Leader, was the first to “get the sense” when Vega handpicked Superman Philloughby to replace him as the UDP candidate in the Albert Di-vision. Can you say dumb and dumberer?

Then there’s the Flippin Madafish, who likewise got the green light from Vega and his Chairman August, leaving Delroy Cuthkelvin crying foul after only get-ting 19 votes at the polls.

How about poor Hutchy, who got sidelined after years of “care-taking” to make way for Gapi’s golden girl Castillo, who was his right hand when the Minis-try of Natural Resources earned the title as the most corrupt Ministry in Belmopan.

Denny “the Noh Mul Destroyer” Grijalva is Gapi’s choice, not just to tear down ancient Mayan temples, but also to run in the Orange Walk Central division.

As for the political hit put out on the Esquivel family, not a soul is shedding any tears for them after Laura was accused by her board managers of running the BTB’s finances into the ground. If anything, the re-moval of all three Esquivels from very lucrative board positions is now saving our country tens of thousands per month.

This parasite, who has been making millions in front of and behind the backs of the Belizean people, actually has the audacity to think that he could one day lead Belize. Like his leader Barrow, Vega is installing robots who cannot think for themselves and who have already sold their souls to the dirty devil.

All of these puppets are supporters of the continuing rosewood corruption. They are supporters of destroy-ing ancient Mayan temples. They are supporters of stealing private land, giving it to cronies, then “selling” it back to government at an inflated price. By support-ing Vega, they are all supporters of institutionalized corruption.

Unfortunately for them, Belizeans are not asleep. Tomorrow’s noon is not for robots and puppets and parasites. It is for true leaders, with true hearts. It is for leaders with compassion, vision and knowledge of how to govern.

Tomorrow’s noon is for Belize. It is time for the PUP.

Page 6: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 606

Delroy Cuthkelvin confirms conventions are rigged, wants Chairman Alberto August sanctioned

FrAuduLENT udP CONvENTIONS!

Belize City, March 18, 2014Someone in the UDP has finally

found the courage to publicly confirm that the conventions held by the Unit-ed Democratic Party to elect standard bearer candidates for the upcoming elections are fraudulent.

Delroy Cuthkelvin, who is a Chief Propagandist for the UDP and who was hired on a political contract to head the Belize Press Office, has ex-posed that the UDP conventions are entirely rigged. Cuthkelvin speaks from experience. He boycotted the Stann Creek West convention, held last weekend, as a result of heavy ma-nipulation of the voters’ list by UDP

Chairman Alberto August to favor the recycled candidate, Melvin Hulse.

In a press release issued on Mon-day March 17th, Cuthkelvin said that they boycotted the convention be-cause August had arbitrarily removed over 600 voters, when the candidates had only agreed to disallowing 200 from the total list.

“…we made the decision to boycott the convention as we were convinced that to participate in it would be to validate a glaringly fraudulent and undemocratic pro-cess deliberately designed to disen-franchise legitimate voters of Stann Creek West and install the Chair-

man’s candidate of choice, Melvin Hulse,” stated the press release.

Cuthkelvin’s boycott hardly made an impact on the UDP. They proceed-ed with the convention on Sunday March 16th, with the two remaining candidates, Melvin Hulse and Alex Romero. Hulse defeated Romero and Cuthkelvin, whose name had re-mained on the ballot, got 19 votes.

Cuthkelvin is urging his Party to nullify Sunday’s convention and set a new date for a fair and transparent process. He is also asking the Au-gust be punished for “consistently high-handed and undemocratic actions”.

Hulse was the UDP’s last candi-date in the general elections. He lost badly to the PUP’s victorious Rodwell Ferguson by almost 600 votes.

The UDP has been rocked by allegations of fraud in their internal election process. Similar serious alle-gations surfaced following their Dan-griga and Orange Walk East conven-tions, which saw former candidates resigning from the party. In the case of Orange Walk East candidate Da-vid Constanza, he declared, “I did not go up against a candidate but

against an institution. It is because of what I represent and because of the injustice and corruption that my sup-porters witnessed on Sunday that I would like to state publicly that I have resigned from the United Dem-ocratic Party”.

LiquoR LiCENSE NoTiCES

Notice is hereby given that MARViN LAZARo RiVERA and GLENDA XioMARA SARAViA are applying for a Malt & Ci-der Liquor License to be operated at “Cheaptown Hardware”, situate at 9171 La Croix Boulevard, Belize City, Belize District under the Intoxicating Liquor Li-censing Ordinance Re-vised Edition 1980.

Page 7: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 7 07

LiquoR LiCENSE NoTiCES

Notice is hereby given that ZHENG MiNG TAN is ap-plying for a Shop Liquor License to be operated at “Celina’s Fast Food”, situate at 9 ½ Miles, Phil-lip Goldson Highway, La-dyville, Belize District un-der the Intoxicating Liquor Licensing Ordinance Re-vised Edition 1980.

Notice is hereby given that NORMA CECILIA DIONI-CIO is applying for a Malt & Cider Liquor License to be operated at “Roxy’s Restaurant and Bar”, sit-uate at #2209 San Martin Avenue, Belmopan City, Cayo District under the In-toxicating Liquor Licensing Ordinance Revised Edition 1980.

BTB’s WorsT KePT secreT

Millions of Dollars in DeficitBelize City, March 20, 2014

As the Belize Tourism Board tries to recover from the hemorrhaging caused by the political drama and lo-cal and international embarrassment of having to oust its own leader, for-mer BTB Director Laura Esquivel Frampton, as a result of what those on the inside called her “secretive, egotistical” style of leadership, it is also trying its best to conceal from the public a crushing financial dilem-ma which the flagship tourism institu-tion finds itself in.

Well-placed sources in the Tour-ism Industry have informed the BE-LIZE TIMES that as the BTB enters its new financial year, it is staring at a huge non-projected financial deficit to the tune of millions of dollars.

The information reaching the BE-LIZE TIMES is that the deficit is the result of an overly-aggressive and poorly coordinated and monitored marketing campaign which has cost the BTB millions of dollars which was not part of its financial forecast.

This marketing campaign, which involved the contracting of an interna-

tional company, who sold them a new but very costly branding concept that involved rainbow colours and a new BTB logo that was similar to one already conceptualized and launched by Mexico’s tourism officials, was met with resis-tance by BTB executives. These level-headed, experienced tourism officials who tried to ap-ply the brakes on this marketing campaign, felt that there was not only not enough bang in the

disregard concerns from the management team is “not only callous but ir-responsible”.

CRISIS OF LEADER-ShIP

Further issues men-tioned by the managers in their letter exposed the profound crisis of leader-ship not only at the BTB, but in the entire tourism industry.

Aside from the chron-ic instability at BTB with the departure of a fourth Director in only six years, there is no leadership at the Ministry of Tourism. In his usual response of “see no evil, hear no evil”, Tourism Minister Manuel Herredia attempted to cov-er up the stink at BTB by claiming that he had not received any letter and he

didn’t know about any troubles at BTB regarding Esquivel-Frampton’s leadership style.

Herredia could not give the let-ter any credence because the let-ter itself indicts his leadership as a complete failure.

The managers wrote in the let-ter that they had registered their concerns before Minister Herredia numerous times “over the past year”. Therefore, it is because Herredia disregarded their con-cerns and allowed Esquivel-Framp-ton’s dictatorial rule to continue that the senior managers felt they had to take the ultimate stand.

While the managers’ tone in the letter was diplomatic, their ex-plicit ultimatum to the Minister in-dicating that “if decisive action is not taken at this time, it will lead to an even worse position at a worse time”, was a direct threat at him. They were saying either Esquiv-el-Frampton goes or we will!

buck, but not much sense either.The strong reservations ex-

pressed eventually got overruled by Esquivel-Frampton who gave the ulti-mate approval to the marketing cam-paign.

The result, we are reliably told, is a tab to the tune of millions of dollars which was not forecasted in their ex-penditure. The marketing department, led by a relative new comer in the in-dustry, had little explanation to give. Sources say they pointed fingers to the Director.

It is this dilemma, for which the entire Board would have to answer, which led to the sudden coup that ejected Esquivel-Frampton from what was believed to be her safe and un-touchable politically-appointed post at BTB. In an angry letter written to the Tourism Minister by seven senior managers, they indicated their con-cerns over Esquivel-Frampton’s finan-cial management.

“…she has disregarded our con-cerns, especially as it pertains to the finances of the institution,” they stat-ed.

The senior managers include Kevin Gonzalez, Director, Destination Plan-ning; Armeid Thompson, Director of Quality Assurance; Keisha Faber, Di-rector of Administration; Javier Pare-dez, Director of Revenue Collection/Registrar of Hotels; Alyssa Carnegie, Director of Marketing, Industry Rela-tions; Valdemar Andrade, Director of Cruise and Regional Initiatives and Kar-en Pike, Director of Information Man-agement.

They pointed out that they have been left in the dark about BTB’s true financial state.

“…all calls made for further dis-cussion or “deep diving” into the current financial position of the or-ganization have been largely dis-counted,” the letter said.

Much stronger language was used by the senior managers as they re-corded their concerns about Esquiv-el-Frampton’s preparation of the new budget. Aside from being secretive and manipulative, they said “she has failed to display requisite leader-ship, levels of honesty, transparency and integrity”, and that her decision to

Page 8: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 808

PUP

– Freetown’s Mr. quitar?

The PM’s Budget Speech is wickedly deceptive

Continued on page 31

Barrow’s Bogus Budget

By Norris hall, 19 March 2014The Prime Minister presented his

Budget Speech to the Legislature a few weeks before the official fiscal year be-gins on 1st April. This was his seventh since he first came to office in 2008 and the third since he called snap elections in 2012 when his government was re-turned to office with a very slim major-ity.

These have become annual mas-querades and puppet shows to bolster the fast diminishing credibility of a gov-ernment which has now established itself as egregiously corrupt, self-serv-ing and nepotistic-especially with a roy-al family of Barrows. The country now looks as if it is Belize, Barrow, Barrows & Associates, Inc.

The Budget Speech is supposed to be a narrative by the Prime Minister to review the performance of the national economy, an accounting for his govern-ment’s performance and an overview of the government’s objectives and pro-posals on how the government propos-es to spend tax-payers money, called revenue and expenditure, for the next twelve months.

But the Prime Minister’s budget presentation was far removed from the reality of the mumbo-jumbo and falsi-fied figures prepared by the Ministry of Finance - most of which will be mis-managed, misappropriated and simply siphoned off. The budget is bogus.

NO CLEAR PAttERN FOR ECO-NOMIC DEVELOPMENt

In trying to understand the funda-mental philosophy of the current gov-ernment, its goals and objectives, we have gleaned on all seven of the Prime Minister’s budget speeches, along with his other pronouncements. Try as we could, no clear pattern emerged to even suggest a clearly defined economic de-velopment plan or any well-grounded strategies to attract investment, or that will address the ever increasing poverty level, crime and unemployment.

The government continues to expe-rience shortfalls in its annual projection for revenues from taxes, oil revenue and royalties and the value of goods and ser-vices (GDP).

Because of the dismal state of the national economy, the Prime Minister has chosen not to address the gloomy picture that continues to emerge. The economy has flat lined. The productive sector has fallen short of projections mainly because of the government fail-ure to address some serious issues af-fecting two of the country’s major indus-tries - sugar and citrus. The only bright sparks in the economy are the tourism industry and farmed-shrimp export. Not so much because of the government, but despite the government’s ill-advised policies in pushing for mass cruise ship tourism in the pristine waters of Belize against the advice of the Inter-American Development Bank-IDB.

To balance to government’s bud-get, the Prime Minister is depending heavily on panhandling to balance the budget and for the so-called Capital 3 expenditure. This is mainly from loans and grants from international banks and friendly countries, as Belize begin to en-joy a new profile as a beggar nation.

AID DRIES UP BECAUSE OF CORRUPtION

But the traditional partners in devel-

opment such as the UK and the USA have been reducing their aid funding and are making in-kind contributions in a pragmatic way, such as for military assistance. One of the reasons is be-cause of increasing corruption in the Barrow Administration.

The government, however, contin-ues to receive controlled and closely monitored funding from the European Union. Its main lifelines continue to be Taiwan and the government of Venezu-ela which he continues to misappropri-ate with the Prime Minister’s bravado that he has lots of money to spend. It will be recalled, that when he was in the Opposition, Barrow bashed the Pet-ro-Caribe agreement, which was nego-tiated by the Musa Administration. He was also highly critical of Chavez, the late President of Venezuela.

In avoiding the traditional report on the state of the economy since he came to office, the Prime Minister said that 2014 is a “year of miracles”. The next thing he will be telling us is that he will walk on water.

wE hAVE A ShORt AttENtION SPAN SAYS thE PM

At the start of his budget speech, the Prime Minister out of sympathy for his colleagues in the House and out of consideration for the “public atten-tion span”, decided to avoid the gory details of an economy moving towards collapse.

The speech was basically an elec-tioneering pat-on-the-back exercise far removed from our reality and designed to impress. However, it ended up con-fusing those with “a short attention span” which he implied be the igno-rance of the electorate who he is con-vinced that he could continue to hood-wink.

Try this for size: THE PRIME MINIS-TER: “I consider it fundamental to place

the facts and figures, which we are the principal constituents of any budget presentation, into their accompanying social and political setting. That require-ment is especially compelling this time round because of a particular conjunc-ture of circumstance. I therefore hope to make the contextualization exercise resonant.”

There is no need for a translation. For us at the grassroots this is elitist drama or a high court performance. It translates as elevated rhetoric, or as we know it at the base of the pyramid: horseshit.

The Prime Minister, who boast-ed of a projected 2 percent growth in GDP in his 2013 budget failed to revis-it all the gloating promises then. He is again making some dramatic forecast that is not likely unless his government change its policies to induce growth and foreign investments.

thE COUNtRY NEEDS A tEC-tONIC ShIFt

Unless there is a dramatic shift in policies and a kinder and gentler ap-proach to local businesses and foreign investors, and a tectonic shift with the help of the electorate, Belize will con-tinue down the road toward becoming another failed state ruled by a gentry of Barrow et al.

There is a strong correlation be-tween population, economic growth and investment. It must be noted that Belize population growth rate declined from 3 percent in 2000 to less than 2 percent now. Given the grim state of the economy, unless there is a massive capital injection into the economy, it is not likely that Mr. Barrow will see the anticipated growth and all the wonder-ful predictions he is making from his rose-coloured crystal ball.

He continues to blow smoke up our…

PM supports salary deductions, claims teachers were being “utterly unreasonable”

Faber punishes teachers for BNTU rally

Government.A massive and loud crowd

of teachers gathered outside the national assembly from ear-ly Wednesday morning to call on the Barrow Administration to give the teachers a respect-able salary adjustment and to deal with the scandals and cor-ruption. Led by their militant national president Luke Pala-cio, the teachers have proven to have backbone, unlike other union leaders, and have taken their fight for respect seriously.

Continued from page 2 The BNTU is no poco tiempo orga-nization.

The announcement that the BNTU was going to demonstrate in Belmopan was scoffed at by the Minister of Education Patrick Faber who threatened that if they did, he would ask for a list of those who take part and ensure that the Minis-try deducts a day’s pay. This is how mean and petty Faber could get.

Well true to his word, the Min-istry of Education has proceeded to dock the teachers’ salaries.

This move, which has further aggravated the BNTU membership,

had the full support of PM Barrow who said the BNTU and teachers were being “utterly unreason-able”. Barrow said the teachers should be satisfied with having had their rallies in January.

It seems the Prime Minis-ter did not get the memo that the BNTU have designated the month of March as “March On” month, to indicate that they will stand up and fight if needed for the Government end its disre-spect of teachers.

The decision to deduct teach-ers’ salaries for taking part in the BNTU rally is also rank hypocri-sy on the Faber and the Prime Minister’s part. This because the Government openly encouraged the closure of schools a day be-fore the BNTU rally, so female teachers could attend an event personally planned by the Prime Minister’s wife.

Page 9: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 9 09

Continued from page 7

MOrE CONTrACTS FOr GAPI vEGA’S dELINquENT NEPHEW

Hon. Manuel Herredia Jr.

Belize District, March 15, 2014On Thursday last, March 13,

2014, Area Representative for Be-lize Rural Central Hon. Dolores Bal-deramos Garcia attended a small but very special ceremony at the Belize Zoo. Zoo Director Sharon Matola and Zoo Officials hosted the opening and ribbon cutting for a section of the Accessible Walkway Project.

British High Commissioner H.E. Peter Hughes, Faculty Mem-bers and Students of the State University of New York (SUNY Cor-tland), Hon. Dolores, and key repre-sentatives of the Belize Assembly for Persons with Diverse Abilities (BAPDA) gathered to celebrate the achievement of another phase of the project. Mr. Hughes gave a con-

HELPING THE dIFFErENTLy AbLEdtribution on behalf of the British High Commission, SUNY Cor-tland students put in the sweat equity, and Hon. Dolores made a donation to the project’s com-pletion.

In thanking all those who contributed, Sharon Matola stat-ed how thrilled she was that soon the walkways for access for differently abled persons will be fully completed, so that the elderly, persons in wheelchairs, and all differently abled persons will be able to experience the unique charms of the Belize Zoo.

In attendance were spe-cial guests Mr. Marshall Nunez, President of BAPDA, Ms. Kath-leen Skeen, Ms. Eva Middleton and several other BAPDA mem-

bers. Speaking on behalf of BAPDA, Eva Middleton, shared with those gathered the difficult challenges faced by differently abled persons, and how often there is disrespect and indifference to their challenges.

Mr. Hughes in his remarks said how pleased the British High Com-mission was to contribute to the Accessible Walkways Project. And in her comments, Hon. Dolores thanked Sharon and all the Zoo staff for always including residents of Mahogany Heights and La De-mocracia, especially the children, in Zoo activities and celebrations. Hon. Dolores added that she was delighted to contribute to allowing differently abled persons to have access to and experience the plea-sures of the Zoo.

Handing over of the cheque from Hon. Dolores to Sharon Matola and the

ribbon cutting for the completed new phase of the Accessible Walkways.

Corozal District, March 17, 2014

The nephew of the NOT NORMAL Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega con-tinues to benefit enormously from Government projects, even though he has yet to account for an abandoned public contract to repair a road in Orange Walk Town for which full payment had been made.

The BELIZE TIMES has confirmed that Imer Hernan-dez has been awarded a con-tract to build a multi-million dollar fence near the Belize border with Mexico.

The BELIZE TIMES has not seen any evidence of any tendering for the contract, before it was awarded to the privileged UDP family mem-ber. There is also no immedi-ate need or clear purpose for the almost half-a-mile-long fence being built with public funds. But Hernandez’s com-pany, which bears his name, is being paid millions to carry out the work. This time the money is just right, it seems.

Unconfirmed reports are

that the contract is for $4.6 million.

Despite facing tremen-dous public scandal for fail-ing to fulfil the conditions of his contract to repair San An-tonio Road in Orange Walk Town, Hernandez and his company have continued to benefit from lucrative con-tracts. And if getting Gov-

ernment contracts to build a million dollar fence, construct a market in Belmopan, and car-ry out a million dollar contract for streets in the Cayo District were not enough for Vega’s nephew, the Corozal Town Council has added the icing to the cake.

Hernandez was awarded an almost million dollar con-

tract to repair various streets in Corozal Town. These con-tracts were awarded by the UDP Corozal Town Council with no fair opportunities for other companies who are more trustworthy than the Deputy Prime Minister’s nephew.

In attempting to explain why the Town Council hand-picked Hernandez for the job, Mayor Hilberto Campos said that Vega’s nephew is a “very good friend” of his.

Hernandez may be con-sidered a “good friend” to the UDP Mayor, but to Be-lizeans especially residents

of San Antonio Road in Or-ange Walk, Hernandez is a good for nothing, delinquent contractor who was paid over $200,000 to repair their road in 2012, but who simply vanished and neglected his responsibility. Some say he should be charged for stealing public funds and imprisoned.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who claims to be anti-corrupt, defended Her-nandez and his abandoned contract saying that on Gov-ernment’s orders, Vega’s nephew was told to divert to another street, which is cur-rently badly in need of repair.

Page 10: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 10

by kELSEy Hemsley

VEGAS COME UP AGAIN!

Espats will join UDP ranks

WOMAN IN THE HOuSE

Shall We Rally???By Dolores Balderamos Garcia

Belizeans are surely aware that the women’s rally held by the National Women’s Com-mission and Ms. Kim Simplis Barrow took place on March 6th, two days before Interna-tional Women’s Day.

On March 5th, the People’s United Party’s fifth Women’s Agenda was launched in an impressive ceremony at Inde-pendence Hall. Our party has presented a Women’s Agen-da, a set of specific manifes-to commitments and pledges, in every election cycle since our first one was launched in 1998. We felt that it continues to be of importance to put together and to make public our pledges and our agenda for the unfinished business of

bringing Belizean women fully into the development of our country.

Likely American Presiden-tial candidate Hillary Clinton has this year made it clear once more that equality for women is the great unfinished business of the twenty-first century. Likewise the head of the Unit-ed Nations Agency for Wom-en Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka called for big steps, not baby steps, to bring about equality for women. We need a “He for She” campaign, she said, so that men can be integral part-ners in the work for women’s equality. I agree wholehearted-ly that: “Equality for Women is Progress for All!!”

Our 2014 Women’s Agen-

da under the theme “Charting Greater Pathways for Belizean Women as Nation Builders” ad-dresses the unfinished business for women in Belize in tangible and practical ways, and it builds on the many accomplishments of the PUP as the only political party in the history of Belize that has truly acknowledged the criti-cal role of women in national de-velopment. We have once again committed ourselves to work in six areas: Education and Skills Training; Health and Wellness; Socio-Cultural/Political; Econom-ic Empowerment; Land, Housing and Property Rights; and Legal Issues.

I had been invited to partici-pate in and to speak at the March 6th Women’s Rally, and I did seri-ously consider being a part of the event. However, on canvassing many party faithfuls and discuss-ing the issue with various leaders, I felt that I did not see the real pur-pose in the event. It appeared to me and many others that this was mere showboating without sub-stance, and an attempt to hype up women by having a large gather-ing, but very little follow-up.

Later, it was brought to my attention that there was a hefty budget, but that the only follow-up

activities would be an exhibit showcasing women leaders in different spheres of Belizean life and a poster promoting women in leadership. A minis-cule portion of the budget was proposed for these, while over $200,000.00 was allotted for logistics and transportation for a rally of a few hours.

The women bused in from the districts and brought in from the cayes would, I felt, go home to their same realities. And the question remains: what has the Dean Barrow Government done for the equality of women and our full integration into Belizean development??

It is obvious what my an-swer is. To put it mildly – pre-cious little!! I had no problem with some members of the PUP attending the rally; we are not monolithic or dictatorial. But my answer to the question “Shall We Rally??” was, as a matter of principle for me, a respectful yet emphatic NO. I would rather continue the hard work in my constituency and in our preparations to once more fulfill our manifesto pledges in the PUP Women’s Agenda 2014. Happy Women’s Month to all!!

Page 11: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 11

Edmund Castro

Elvin Penner

Godwin Hulse

Page 12: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 12

Page 13: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 13

VyBz Kartelfound guilty of murder

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NEWSENTERTAINMENT

Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel has been convicted of murder. In a high-profile trial under heavy security, Kartel and three co-defendants were found guilty of killing an associate, Clive Lizard Wil-liams, over a missing gun. One defendant was cleared of wrongdoing.

On Thursday, Jamaican police in riot gear guarded streets outside, and parts of the capital Kingston were cordoned off in advance of the verdict to prevent any disruption by fans of the en-tertainer. However, shortly before the jury started to deliberate in the afternoon, about 200 people briefly broke through barricades at one intersection shouting “Free Kartel!”

Prosecutors alleged Williams was beaten to death at the reggae per-former’s home in August 2011 after being lured there to answer for two missing illegal guns. His body has never been found.

Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, has been in jail for about three years since his arrest in connec-tion with the case.

Page 14: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 14

Mexican import takes SMART Belmopan Cycling

Elite Classic

14 SPORTS THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014

Independence in softball finalsNazarene defeats

Gwen Lizgirls win softball

nationalsKing’s College, March 15, 2014

The Gwen Lizarraga High School girls won the high school softball championships by shutting out the South-ern Zone winners, Independence High School girls 2-0.

MVP pitcher Ashley Lucas struck out 7 batters to shut out the IHS girls while Roslyn Smith and Lucas scored off Camryn Linarez’s pitching for the 2-0 win.

3rd place went to the Belize Rural girls who won 7-4 over the Alvin Young girls. Leeyann Moody and Brentlee Garcia came home in the 1st inning, and Lorette Young came home in the 2nd for BRHS to lead 3-0 until Naomi Myers and Simpson came home in the bottom of the 2nd.

Soberanis struck out 3 batters, but the BRHS led 5-2 when Garcia and Kelsey Robinson came home in the top of the 3rd. BRHS’ pitcher Sabrina Campos struck out 2 batters and scored in the top of the 4th to lead 6-3. Myers, Christy McFadzean and Heather Reid came in to push the score to 7-3.

Crystal Water representative Jason Solis, joined King’s College principal Pedro Reyes in presenting team trophies and medals to the champs, 2nd and 3rd place winners, and MVP Gwen Liz’s star pitcher Ashley Lucas.

Gwen Liz girls are champs

Belize Rural girls independence High girls

Kings College, March 15, 2014The Nazarene High School boys,

who were undefeated in the entire high school softball competition, went on to become the champions when they shut out the Southern Zone champs, Independence High School boys: 3-0 in the finals.

Nazarene’s pitcher Jerome Carr struck out 4 batters to shut out the IHS boys, while Christian Hernandez, Bruce Hilton and Jerry Cassasola scored on IHS errors in the bottom of the 1st inning, for the 3-0 win.

The San Pedro High School boys won 11-2 over the Belmopan Compre-hensive School by mercy rule as Lester

Alvarez struck out 9 batters to allow only BCS’ Noah Moro and Joseph Trapp to score in the top of the 1st. The rest of the game was all for San Pedro; as Esdras Ramiras, Jovi Ico, Alex Roache, Damian Pollard and Kevin Corrado came home in the bottom of the 1st, Ramirez, Ico and Pollard came home in the bot-tom of the 2nd, and Ico, Roaches and Pollard came home in the bot-tom of the 4th.

Team trophies and medals were presented to the champs, 2nd and 3rd place winners, and Nazarene pitcher Jerome Carr won the Most Valuable Player Award.

independence boys

Nazarene boys are champs

Belize City, March 16, 2014Team Benny’s Megabytes’ 20-year-

old Mexican import Ignacio Prado won the annual SMART Belmopan Cycling Elite Classic, organized by the Cycling Federation of Belize on the George Price highway, and finishing in front the SMART headquarters on the Philip Goldson Highway on Sunday, March 16.

Prado won the $1,500 1st prize, a trophy and two nights at the Inn at Robert’s Grove when he rode in 1st in 4:34:09.

Other finishers2nd - Herman “Hijo” Requena

(SMART) - 4:34:57 - $1,000 and a round trip to San Pedro

3rd - Oscar Quiroz Jr. (Western Spirits) - 4:34:58 - $700 prize

4th - Robert Liam Stewart (Team Benny’s Megabytes) 4:35:17 - $350

5th - Brandon Cattouse (C-Ray Road Addiks) 4:36:32 - $200.

Under -23 winners1st - Ignacio Prado2nd - Oscar Quiroz Jr.3rd - Giovanni Lovell - Team Teleme-

diaElite 4/5 winners1st - Angel Tzib (Unattached)2nd - Giovanni Lovell (Telemedia)3rd - Kenroy “Smokes” Gladden

(Unattached)Masters 35+ winners1st - Robert Liam Stewart (Benny’s

Megabytes)2nd - Scotty Weisse (Team Hincapie

Lampierre, USA)3rd - Quinton “the Baddest” Hamil-

ton – Team SMARTMasters 4/5 winners 1st - Nehru Glharry (Team Santino’s

“Ride to Glory”)2nd - Isaiah Willacey (Team Digicell

4G)3rd - Wilbert Jones (Unattached)

Top 5 Elite Winners

Page 15: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 15

SMART No Limit sacks Belmopan

Bandits elite basketball

15SPORTSTHE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014

Tarique Flowers wins SMArT belmopan

Junior Classic

Shalini wins in solo fashion!!

Kaya takes 2nd in SMARt Belmopan Female Classic

Bomb

ers U

-15 &

City

Boys

win

footb

all ga

mes

Belize City, March 16, 2014Team Sagitun’s Shalini Zabaneh

rode across the finish line in solo fashion to win the 60-mile annual SMART Belmopan Female Cycling Classic organized by the Cycling Fed-eration of Belize on the George Price highway.

Shalini finished in a time of 3:19:54 to win the $750 1st prize, a trophy and

a massage at Oltsil Spa.Other finishers2nd Kaya Cattouse (Team

SMART/C-Ray) - 3:21:24 - $500 prize

3rd Patricia Chavarria (Team BECOL) - 3:21:26 - $300 prize

4th Keirah Eiley – (Unattached)5th Alicia Thompson – (Belize

Bank Swoosh)

Belize City, March 16, 2014Tarique Flowers, riding for Team Benny’s Megabytes,

won the annual SMART Belmopan Junior Cycling Classic in 2:57:54 to win the $300 first prize, a trophy and two tires from Bruce Bike Shop.

Flowers won a SMART internet USB when he led the pack at Mile 9 on the George Price highway. He also won SMART internet at mile 25 when he took up the peloton at Mile 25 on the return.

Other finishers2nd Delon Gentle – Team BECOL Uprising - 3:01:03 -

$200 prize3rd Zamir Guerra – Team Cayo High Road – 3:01:08 -

$100 prize Youths1st Dennis Arnold – unattached - 3:21:242nd Michael Grajalez – Team Mando’s Cycling3rd Devin Azueta – Team Cayo High Road

Belize City, February 22, 2014SMART no Limit posted their 3rd win over

the Belmopan Bandits (73-56) in the national elite basketball tournament which continued at Bird’s Isle on Friday night.

Greg “Chippy” Rudon hit 4 treys as he led SMART with 27 points. The Bandits had led 15-14 in the 1st quarter, Andrew Ortiz rammed home 3 monster dunks to add 12 points and tie the score 31-31 at the half.

No limit ran over the Bandits in the 3rd quarter as Elsworth Itza scored 10 points. Kyle Pascacio led the Bandits with 14 points.

Other game:Cayo Western Ballaz vs. Toledo Diplomats

– 83-54Top scorers: Richard Troyer, 14pts (Cayo);

Daniel Valerio, 22 pts (Toledo)

Belize City, March 15, 2014The City Boys drilled the Collet

Strikers 2-0, with goals by Orlan-do Velasquez and Sheldon Linarez when the 2014 Belize District Foot-ball Association continued at the MCC Grounds.

In the other under-17 match, the Brown Bombers drew 1-1 with the Rising Stars. Shawn Young scored for the Bombers, but Kamron Chacon equalized for the Stars.

In the Under 15 competition, the Brown Bombers schooled the Ladyville Rising Stars 3-1 with goals by Tyreek “Pippin” Muschamp and 2 from Eldon Byrd in the 2nd half. Ladyville’s Andres Velasquez had equalized 1-1 up to the half.

In Game 2, the Collet Strik-ers and the Hattieville United Youth Sporting Club drew nil-zip.

In the female competition, Lon-don Strikers bombed the Academy FC “A” team 2-0 with goals from Shanice Neal and Erica Milligan, but Academy FC has protested the re-sult on the grounds that the Strikers used an over-age player.

Upcoming games (Saturday, March 2):

Brown Bombers vs. Hattieville Youth United

Rising Stars vs. Collet Strikers (U-15

Landon’s Strikers vs. Academy C’s “B” team

City Boys U-17 vs. Stars u-17Collet Strikers vs. Hattievile

Youth United U-17

Tyreek Muschamp scored Bombers’ 1st

goal

Greg Rudon scored 27 points

Shalini Zabanehkaya Cattouse

Page 16: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 16

Page 17: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 17

illegal Guatemalans caught panning for gold inside the Chiquibul forest

ThE DISRESPECTING OF MANUEL ESqUIVEL

Godfrey Smith

pointFlash

March 20 2014The political in-

sult is not that Sir Manuel Esquivel, a two-time prime minister of Belize and the United Democratic Party’s only statesman - living or dead - should have dared to summon a sit-ting minister to a meeting about his sacked daughter, but rather that that minister crassly disrespected the summons of the elder statesman of the UDP. For those “raised” in the political culture of the People’s United Party, it is impossible to comprehend this kind of con-temptuous disregard for a person’s place in his-tory.

If George Price, in retirement, had issued a summons to a sitting PUP leader no less, it would never have been ignored. Price commanded, un-til his death, saint-like reverence because of his achievements, granite integrity and messianic appeal. The penalty for abjuring his importance would come not from Price, who was powerless in retire-ment, but in the form of public opprobrium visited upon the offender by his colleagues and

the PUP rank and file. While Mr. Esquivel does not enjoy the stature

of Price either within his own party or nationally, he was a principled leader of integrity whose conduct as prime minister of Belize was above reproach. He was the first to demonstrate that the UDP could be a credible and formidable alternative to the mono-lithic PUP. To him goes the credit for ushering in the era of the UDP’s political viability. He should therefore mean more than a disposable “has been leader” to the UDP and indeed to Belize, a nation short on men of principle and integrity.

But let’s keep things in context. It’s not as if Sir Manuel attempted to beckon the prime minister or even a deputy prime minister; it was just the minis-ter of tourism known by most as “Junior Heredia”.

Mr. Heredia is a well-liked, three-term repre-sentative who, despite his humility and barefooted, grassroots charm will never be more than an overlooked footnote in the political history of Belize. This is the fate that will befall all the cur-rent ministers. They would do well to know that their power is fleeting; they should govern with an eye to history and a sense of perspective.

Mr. Esquivel led the UDP to its first general election victory in 1984 after decades of humiliating defeat by the PUP. His stewardship of the government was marked by personal integrity, fiscal discipline that re-stored the financial health of the economy and a clear-headed attempt to drum up foreign investment. He narrowly lost the general election of 1989 but bounced back to win the elections of 1993. Following the ignominious defeat of the UDP in 1998, in which Mr. Esquivel lost his seat, he eschewed the time-honored Caribbean tradition of clinging on to leadership and cleared the path for his successor.

Mr. Esquivel, arguably, has a better claim than Phillip Goldson to

the title of “historical leader” of the UDP. For at least two decades, Mr. Goldson led what Jules Vasquez aptly describes as a “resistance movement”.

A party devoid of electoral viability could hardly have been described as a political party. Examined in the illu-minating light of research, the mantle of “super patriot” draped around the shoulders of Mr. Goldson is thread-bare, stitched together from the myth that he, for decades, fearlessly and uncompromisingly fought against and exposed Price’s hidden agenda of sell-ing out Belize to Guatemala. Price took money from the Guatemalans to fight the British and would have glad-ly (and sensibly) entered into an eco-nomic union with Central America and

El Petén, but he never entertained any notion of ceding land nor sea to them. Assad Shoman has demonstrated that Price rejected pressure from the British and the Americans to force him to make some kind of concession to Guatemala. There was therefore never any bona fide threat or risk that Price or the PUP would have “sold out” Belize to Guatemala. “We noh waahn no Guatemala” was nothing more than hysterical sloganism.

Mr. Goldson gets high marks for his contribution to the growth of the two-party system. He tenaciously held on for many long years as the only elected opposition member in the Legislative

Assembly of Belize when it would have been easy to give up and leave as Leigh Richardson did. Regrettably, in the autumn of his political life, he became engulfed in the acrid smoke of the immigration hustle that descends upon all ministers of immigration.

The Belize Tourism Board press release is-sued on Wednesday March 12th 2014 announc-ing that Laura Esquivel-Frampton had resigned as Belize’s Director of Tourism for “personal reasons” came a day too late. On Tuesday, March 11th 2014, a letter addressed to Min-ister Heredia signed by seven BTB managers, eviscerating Esquivel-Frampton, was circulat-ing over the internet. The seven expressed a “vote of no confidence”, accused her of being “secretive and egotistical” and unable to dis-tinguish between leadership and manipulation.

In the immediate aftermath of the rout, Minister Heredia apparently proposed a meet-ing with Esquivel-Frampton to arrive at a finan-cial settlement. Somewhere in all of that, the Esquivels proposed meeting at the Esquivel family residence on Daly Street given the poi-

soned atmosphere at the BTB. This was interpreted - at the level of Cabinet - as Mr. Esquivel not understanding that he was no longer prime minister of Belize. Mr. Esquivel and his wife, Kathy, prompt-ly resigned their seats from government boards.

The unpardonable political offence is the manner of Esquiv-el-Frampton’s removal, not the removal itself and Prime Minister Barrow’s failure or refusal to handle the situation with the required delicacy and discretion in light of Mr. Esquivel’s historical weight and importance. Mr. Barrow’s handling of the situation is being in-terpreted as his characteristic, disdainful dismissal of anyone who has no immediate utility to him. Mr. Esquivel might have outlived his usefulness to the UDP, but not to history.

To read other Flashpoint articles, visit www.flashpointbelize.com

Manuel Esquivel and Manuel Herredia

Phillip Goldson

Page 18: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 18

HABET AND HABET ad

PUP NoTIceCorozal Bay Standard Bearer Convention

The People’s United Party Standard Bearer Convention for the Corozal Bay Electoral Division is scheduled for Sunday, March 30, 2014 from 8:00am to 5:00pm at St. Francis Xavier R.C. School.

PUP NoTIceCaribbean Shores Standard Bearer Convention

The People’s United Party Standard Bearer Convention for the Caribbean Shores Electoral Division is scheduled for Sunday, June 1, 2014.

Application are available from the Constituency Committee Chairperson or the PUP Secretariat, Independence Hall, #3 Queen Street, Belize City.

Completed applications must be filled and returned to the Chairperson and the Secretary General. The non-refundable fee is to be submitted to the Sec-retariat along with the necessary documentation to complete the applica-tion package.

Deadline for submission is Friday March 28, 2014.

PUP NoTIceLake Independence Standard Bearer Convention

The People’s United Party Standard Bearer Convention for the Lake Inde-pendence Electoral Division is scheduled for Sunday, June 8, 2014.

Application are available from the Constituency Committee Chairperson or the PUP Secretariat, Independence Hall, #3 Queen Street, Belize City.

Completed applications must be filled and returned to the Chairperson and the Secretary General. The non-refundable fee is to be submitted to the Secretariat along with the necessary documentation to complete the appli-cation package.

Deadline for submission is Friday March 28, 2014.

PUP NoTIceOrange Walk North Standard Bearer Convention

The People’s United Party Standard Bearer Convention for the Orange Walk North Division is scheduled for June 15, 2014.

Application are available from the Constituency Committee Chairperson or the PUP Secretariat, Independence Hall, #3 Queen Street, Belize City.

Completed applications must be filled and returned to the Chairperson and the Secretary General. The non-refundable fee is to be submitted to the Sec-retariat along with the necessary documentation to complete the application package.

Deadline for submission is Tuesday April 15, 2014.

PUP NoTIceBelize Rural South Standard Bearer Convention

The People’s United Party Standard Bearer Convention for the Belize Rural South Electoral Division is scheduled for Sunday, June 22, 2014.

Application are available from the Constituency Committee Chairperson or the PUP Secretariat, Independence Hall, #3 Queen Street, Belize City.

Completed applications must be filled and returned to the Chairperson and the Secretary General. The non-refundable fee is to be submitted to the Secretariat along with the necessary documentation to complete the application package.

Deadline for submission is Friday March 28, 2014.

PUP NoTIceMunicipal Elections – City of Belmopan

The People’s United Party is inviting interested applicants for the upcoming City of Belmopan municipal elections to submit their applications. A Convention is slated for Sunday, June 29th, 2014.

Applications are available from the Constituency Committee Chairperson Mr. Paul Wade or the PUP Secretariat, Independence Hall, #3 Queen Street, Belize City.

Completed applications must be filled and returned to the Chairperson and the Secretary General. The non-refundable fee must be submitted to the Secretariat along with the necessary documentation to complete the application.Deadline for submission is Tuesday April 15, 2014.

Page 19: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 19

GOVERNMENT OF BELIZEMINISTRY OF WORKS & TRANSPORTNATURAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT

BRIDGE REHABILITATION (TROPICAL STORM ARTHUR) PROJECTDESIGN & CONSTRUCTION OF NEW MULLINS RIVER BRIDGE

INVITATION FOR POST-QUALIFICATION OF CONTRACTORS

The Government of Belize (GOBZ) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards the cost of the Design and Construction of the New Mullins River Bridge and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this financing to eligible payments under contracts for which this invitation is issued. Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of GOBZ and upon approval by CDB, and will be subject in all respects to the terms and conditions of the Financing Agreement. The Financing Agreement prohibits withdrawal from the financing account for the purpose of any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of CDB, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. No party other than GOBZ shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing.

The Ministry of Works & Transport (MOWT) is the Executing Agency for the Project. A Project Coordinator from the Project Execution Unit (PEU), assisted by Project Engineers, will be responsible for the day-to-day management of project activities. Engineering consultants will be retained by MOWT to assist with the supervision and certification of the works.

MOWT (hereinafter referred to as “the Employer”) intends to post-qualify contractors/consultants for the following bridge works under this project:

• Design and Construction of the New Mullins River Bridge

Interest parties are hereby invited to submit proposals.

Consideration will be limited to firms or joint ventures of firms which are legally incorporated or otherwise organised in, and have their principal place of business in an eligible country or countries and are either:

(a) more than 50% beneficially-owned by a citizen or citizens and/or a bona fide resident or residents of an eligible country or countries, or by a body corporate or bodies corporate meeting these requirements; or

(b) owned or controlled by the government of an eligible country provided that it is legally and financially autonomous and operated under the commercial law of an eligible country.

Eligible countries are member countries of CDB.

The requirements for post-qualification will include:

(a) an average annual turnover (defined as billing for works in progress and completed) within the last three years of Bz$3.0 million for civil works;(b) demonstrable cash flow (including access to credit) of Bz$750,000;(c) experience in works of a similar nature and size, which includes driving of piles, for each of the last three years, and details of work under way or contractually committed; and clients who may be contacted for further information on those contracts;(d) qualifications and experience of Bridge Design Engineer and other key design team members, site management and technical personnel proposed for the Contract;(e) bridge design experience and works of a similar nature;(f) experience as prime contractor in the construction of at least two assignments of a nature and complexity comparable to the proposed project activity within the last 5 years (to comply with this requirement, works quoted should be at least 70 percent complete);(g) proposals for the timely acquisition (own, lease, hire, etc.) of the essential equipment listed in the Bidding Data;(h) demonstrate experience in the execution of design of bridge structures;(i) a structural/bridge engineer with ten years experience in works of or equivalent nature; and(j) A Project/Contract Manager with at least eight years experience, five of which have been spent in works of an equivalent nature and scope including not less than five years as a Project/Contract Manager.

This Contract comprises the supply of labour, materials, plant, equipment, survey instruments, soils testing equipment and any other necessary tools and machinery for the design, construction and comple-tion of works of the above project. The Works shall include the supply, construction, installation and completion of the following:

• Professionally qualified staff for execution of the Detailed Engineering Bridge Design;• Execution of Topographic Survey;• Execution of Hydraulic Study;• Execution of Structural Design of Bridge;• Preparation of Construction Drawings and as built Drawings;• Preparation of Technical Specifications;• Site Clearance;• Bridge Construction;• Clearing of Waterway;• Piling of Foundation;• Embankment Construction;• Any other accommodation works as required in the Specification, or as required to complete the Contract to the satisfaction of the Engineer.

Bidding documents are available for a non-refundable fee of Bz$1,500.00 at the address below:PROJECT EXECUTION UNITMinistry of Works & TransportPower LaneBelmopanBELIZE, C.A.Tel: +501-822-0562Fax: +501-822-0563Email: [email protected]

A pre-tender site visit will be held on Monday 7th April 2014.

Submissions of applications for post-qualification shall be in English and must be received in sealed envelopes, clearly marked “Application to Post-qualify for the Design and Construction of the New Mullins River Bridge”. Applications must be either delivered by hand or by registered mail to the address below not later than 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday 22nd April, 2014.

MOWT reserves the right to accept or reject late applications or to cancel the present post-qualification notice partially or in its entirety. MOWT will not be bound to assign any reason for not post-qualifying any applicant and will not defray costs incurred by applicants in the preparation and submission of the post-qualification documents.

Applicants will be advised in due course of the results of their proposal. Only contractors/consultants and joint ventures who post-qualified under this procedure will be invited to opening of financial offers.

Project Execution UnitMinistry of WorksPower LaneBelmopanCayo DistrictBELIZE, C. A.Tel: 501-822-0562Fax: 501-822-0563Email: [email protected]

Page 20: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 20

Happy Holidays!

Continued from page 2

Reid

Legal Drug

Hustlers the procurement of drugs is a serious matter and according to the Pharmacists Association of Belize (PAB), “Belize is plagued with a myriad of issues

related to the quality of pharmaceuticals. these issues pose numerous direct threats to the health and safety of the people of the country”.

By G. Michael ReidI hereby ask forgiveness

of all those readers who tol-erate my weekly rhetoric since I had need of a two week hiatus. My absence was necessary to attend to an urgent medical situation. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has wreaked havoc on my frame and has necessitated the replacement of several joints. Science has not yet found a way to halt the dam-age that RA does to joints nor have they found a way to help the joint to repair itself. They have found a way to replace those joints that be-come severely damaged and I have since had the need to replace both hips and a knee. Hopefully, this latest replace-ment will set me on relative-ly good footing for a fair pe-riod of time and allow me to once again move around and be productive. I must say a big thank you to Dr. Francis Smith and Dr. Roberts, who together, have been remark-able at stitching and patching up of my dilapidated frame. Thanks to the nurses and other helpful staff members of the Karl Huesner Memori-al Hospital. Many thanks also to my family and friends who have been most helpful and supportive during my “down-time”.

I would have loved to have traveled abroad for this latest procedure but financial constraints left Karl Huesner

Memorial Hospital (KHMH) as the only option. I was deter-mined not to solicit anymore handouts so I sold ‘stole and barrowed’ all that I could and haggled with the doctors for a good deal. I have had suc-cess in a previous surgery at the KHMH and do not share the fear of that institution that some people do. Having been there before on several occa-sions and seeing what is hap-pening though, I believe gives me authority to assess and

compare between what it was and what it is today.

KHMH is Belize’s flagship hospital providing care primar-ily to those who cannot afford to visit the two private hospi-tals or to seek medical atten-tion abroad. It does not have a good reputation which is a disservice to the hard work-ing doctors and nurses who toil there on a daily basis. The KHMH which is a fairly new hospital was built in 2005 to replace the Old Belize City Hospital which was on Eve Street in Belize City. That hos-pital originally was founded way back in 1820 with an ini-tial purpose to provide medi-cal services for sick seafaring men. The hospital converted to a general hospital in 1871 and has been serving the sick of Belize ever since, albeit en-during a series of conversions over the years. When the new hospital was opened in 1995, the name was changed to honor the memory of Dr. Karl Huesner who had rendered selfless service to Belizeans over previous decades. Dr. Huesner was famous through-out the Caribbean and Latin America for his expertise in tropical diseases. As well as

conventional medicine, Huesner was well versed in the use of herbal remedies and local plants. He was very popular in early Be-lize and no one objected to the new hospital bearing his name. The KHMH Act of 2000 incorpo-rated the hospital as a statutory body and designated it as the country’s national referral point. KHMH is administered by a Board of Governors but is run pri-marily on government funding.

The board of the KHMH, of course, is politically appointed and following the UDP’s 2008 victory at the polls, the old board was dismantled and a new one appointed. It was not long how-ever, before major implications began coming forth. In June of 2009 the doctors of the KHMH made a demand for the resig-nation of then Board Chairman Dr. Ricardo Fabro and accused

the hospital of wasting taxpay-ers’ money by paying exuberant prices for substandard prod-ucts. A Commission of Inquiry was launched but in the end, things remained pretty much the same. One aspect of the Inquiry that should have raised more alarm than it did was tes-timony of Deputy Auditor Gen-eral Wayne Simon who on the first day of the inquiry testified that, “The changes made by the CEO Ministry of Health in most cases apparently resulted from a selection of cheaper alterna-tive brands. The tender commit-tees’ recommendations for the most part were not taken by the CEO Ministry of Health. Instead suppliers with cheaper generic brand were contracted...”

This brings us to the latest indiscretion from those quarters. The recent appointment of a rel-atively untrained and unskilled political crony to head the new-ly created post of Drug Inspec-torate should be of major con-cern to not only pharmacists but all Belizeans. The procurement of drugs is a serious matter and according to the Pharmacists Association of Belize (PAB), “Be-lize is plagued with a myriad of issues related to the quality of pharmaceuticals. These issues

pose numerous direct threats to the health and safety of the people of the country”. What is important to note is a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) that re-vealed that as much of 25% of medicines used in developing countries like Belize are coun-terfeit. This is alarming!

In a March 2011 story car-ried by the popular and cred-ible CBS 60 Minutes, noted physician and journalist Dr. Sanjay Gupta did a report on companies in India that spe-cialized in manufacturing coun-terfeit medicine and selling them to countries like Belize. Dr. Gupta found that these laboratories that were set up in backroom apartments and basements manufactured many fake medicines such as antibiotics, blood pressure

and pain medications. Dr. Gupta and his team discovered that the fake drugs were man-ufactured under very unsanitary conditions and carried ingredients like highway paint, floor wax and chalk. The fake companies even dupli-cated the names, logos and packaging of genu-ine medicine.

The concern is that these fakes so closely resemble the real stuff that even experienced and qualified persons have trouble distinguishing the real from the counterfeit. For the government of Belize to hire unqualified persons to provide oversight on drugs is danger-ous. We all know that for the sake of greed and an opportu-nity to hustle, politicians and their cronies will readily sac-rifice the safety of the people for their personal enrichment. We cannot take our eye off of this situation and must stand in solidarity with the pharmacists who are demanding that the best possible person be hired for this very important job. The very health of our nation is at stake. This unscrupulous nepotism and cronyism must be stopped or we will all suf-fer the consequences. Maybe if we insisted that our elected officials use the same facili-ties and the same drugs that we consume might help the situation. If Dean Barrow, Kim Simplis and Michael Finnegan had to use the same hospitals and drugs as the rest of us, I bet they would exercise better care. This Animal Farm system of governance must stop!

Page 21: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 21

The Government outside the Government

Home Economics

By Richard harrisonIn the beginning there was one gov-

ernment….it taxed the people and pro-vided services based on those taxes….through its various line ministries.

Then…the public sector entrepreneurs started special-interest projects…with the guise of improved services through better management…with “cost-recov-ery” mechanisms, replicating all kinds of quasi-government statutory bodies out of these projects. Most with special “laws” that these bodies would write for them-selves with their built-in authority/right to tax, but without the fiduciary responsibility to account for those “extra-budgetary” rev-enues. The line of authority still ended with the Minister under whose portfolio the statutory body fell, so the MINISTER ruled in the CENTRAL GOVERNMENT….and the NOT-SO-CENTRAL GOVERNMENT. He became a king with two fiefdoms.

So it was….that the politicians built….a house for themselves and their favor-ites….outside of the house where the vot-ing public has a direct say.

The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) is one of those houses. The Minister of Tourism is at the head of the line of authority….it has a Board of Directors that is appoint-ed by the political directorate of the day, but which is mostly rubber-stamp…and it has its own law that gives it authority/rights to collect taxes and license fees…with its own “tax-collectors”. Among them, the Hotel Tax….which is many millions of dollars in revenues each year. Every year, it hosts a gala event to present an Annu-

al Report, which mostly focuses on arriv-al statistics and some of the superficial activities undertaken during the year…its detailed “audited” financials are under lock and key…but in closing, there is a big par-ty with enough free expensive wine and liquor to celebrate the “achievements”….not of the BTB….but of the “industry”. Of late, we have heard of ramblings and “resignations” from high offices…but no one in Belize, in their right mind, expects any investigation or corrective measures. The government outside the government remains intact. The BTB is to do all what a Ministry of Tourism is to do….but we now have to pay for the BTB….and for a sepa-rate Ministry of Tourism. One has to won-der: what does the Ministry of Tourism do?

Since Independence, Belize politicians have created a plethora of these statuto-ry bodies and public corporations…..BTL, BEL, BWSL, DFC, BSSB, PACT, BIL, NICH, Free Zone Management Authority, Export Processing Zones Board, BELTRAIDE, Coastal Zone Management Authority, Be-lize Agricultural Health Authority, Central Building Authority, Solid Waste Manage-ment Authority, Trade License Board, IM-MARBE, Belize Intellectual Property (BE-LIPO), International Business Companies Registry, International Insurance Services Authority, KOLBE prison, Border Man-agement Authority, Belize Port Authority, Belize Airports Authority, Belize Transport Authority, NEMO, NEAC, Belize Market-ing and Development Corporation, Land Management Authority….and the list goes on….all of them with their own self-writ-

ten law which gives them authority/right to charge fees for their “services”…and to modify those fees if and when they see it fit. Most of them have a Board of Direc-tors made up from political appointments and persons directly invested in the spe-cific sector…with “management teams” that have become a part of the furniture by perfecting the 6:30 dance…they call it self-policing.

Together, this government outside of government collects and controls as much money as does the Central Government of Belize…..but this is not reflected in your Annual National Budget….nor is there any requirement for timely annual publication of their detailed audited financial reports.

With this parallel government operat-ing and budgeted for….most of them still receiving substantial “subventions” from the public coffers as part of their “reve-nues”….one has to wonder what is left for the Central Government of Belize to do? But each line ministry still adds “incre-ments” to their budgets each year.

As this top-heavy reality has grown out of proportion… so has the compet-itiveness and productivity of the Belize economy declined…raising the cost-of-doing-business to astronomical levels… reducing the chances for turning an honest profit from an investment…and creating the enabling environment for corruption to systematically spread horizontally and vertically across the public and private sec-tors. Belize now boasts its status as one of the toughest places to do honest business in the world.

The construction of this second gov-ernment… is the principal contributor to the touted growth of Belize’s SERVICES ECONOMY, which I dare say is false with an ever shrinking PRODUCTIVE SECTOR. Many of these “statutory bodies” need to be reviewed, with a major reduction in cost of providing those services by reduc-ing the fees and including them in national budgets. Some of them can be kept, but

they must be required, like private corpo-rations, to publish their detailed audited financial statements…their legal ability and methodology for modifying fees re-vamped…and their management struc-ture, line-of-authority, performance ap-praisal and rewards and punishment made more transparent and accountable.

Services are built around production systems not production systems around services...and their cost-benefit to produc-tion systems should be enhancing not like a ball and chain.

We have banks, insurance compa-nies, shipping and port services, utilities, transportation services, etc. because we have sugar, citrus, banana, marine, papaya and other production...not the other way around.

There are those “leaders” among us who think that Belize, with its low level of technology and innovation capacity and ca-pability, can depend on sustainable growth of services businesses alone to provide a decent standard of living for its people…and thus they pander to those interests diametrically opposed to the fomentation and growth of the productive sector in Be-lize.

This is what has led us to casino one-arm bandits…internet gambling…paper Trojans IBC’s and “Trusts” and “asset protection” gurus… “free zones”, “export processing zones”, and money laundering, drug peddling…MegaBingo, Fantasy 5, Lucky 3, Lottery, Boledo…an NGO rep-resenting foreign interests around every corner...more “real estate agents” than nurses and doctors...trading and flying the Belize flag on ships for convenience…per-sons trading and carrying the Belize pass-port, permanent residence and visas for convenience and human trafficking and the busiest streets lined with cover-up “front” businesses...fake, fake, fake robust and growing “SERVICES ECONOMY”.

Touch the ground Belize…take your head out of the clouds.

Page 22: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 22

Celebrating Women...developing Leaders

By Angela Banner-JosephAs we celebrate women’s

month, I must share the attributes I believe encourage and motivate all girls and women to become excellent leaders in their daily lives. Ladies, you must define your own success by breaking the rules of the games. Sisters world-wide have already shattered the proverbial glass ceiling, so I chal-lenge you to be more assertive, and learn to promote yourselves and be ambitious.

The definition of leadership has many parts, which includes figuring out what needs to be done, having a vision to solve the problem and learning how to motivate people to achieve the vision. So, ladies what type of leader are you? Here are some character and personality traits of a good woman leader. Do you have any of these traits? The an-swer should be YES! I believe in you, so believe in yourselves, and go for it.

Leadership: It is important that you lead with integrity. Lead-ership is risky, dangerous, chal-lenging, and inspiring as you influ-ence people for the good to fulfill humanity’s highest potential.

Risk taker: You must be a strategic thinker who is willing to take a risk. So, you must learn to be fearless to become a risk taker. Dr. Diane Boardley Suber, Presi-dent of Saint Augustine College, North Carolina gave me great ad-vice several years ago about be-ing a risk taker. She contends that “the turtle is the sign of a risk tak-er. In order to progress you must be willing to stick out your head and put your tail on the line.” Dr. Suber maintains that advice has been her leadership mantra.

Vulnerability: Learn to be vul-nerable, and find a balance in your everyday pursuit as you acquire new knowledge while exposing yourself to unknown truths.

Legend: Become a legend in your own time and in your private time educate yourself. Allow your-self to become a change agent.

Visionary: As a visionary, you must be able to reveal new direc-tions. What do I mean? You must

have the courage to follow your vision, to believe in the invincible, to pursue and work for something that may be a possibility, while others may struggle and wring their hands in despair. As a lead-er in the 21st century, you will be encouraged to bring about radical change, which will require you to become courageous as you direct this change.

Power: Women are powerful as individuals and in numbers. We outnumber men on this planet, but yet we have limited power in major leadership roles. As we em-brace a global community of many challenges, it’s especially im-portant that we continue to push women at the forefront to create a platform for us to share ideas with both women and men to empow-er us in the decision making and implementation process of posi-tive social change.

Decision Maker: We must ensure that women in our country have equal access to positions of decision making, and receive the necessary support to combine work and family so that we can see a higher number of women working in the economy. During the last decade, we have seen women’s participation in deci-sion-making has been growing, albeit slowly. The international hu-man rights conventions and global policy frameworks have noted that

the full participation of women in the decision-making process is necessary for the achievement of gender equality.

Strategic: Women we must plan for uncertain times. Being a decisive planner will enhance your leadership capabilities, and guide you through unprecedent-ed changes. You must prepare to avoid risks that are common with inadequate leadership, now and in the future for changes that are yet to come.

Ladies, I have provided a short list of character and per-sonality traits of a good woman leader. We need to support and encourage each other to propel each other into key leadership positions as you excel to the next level. We must continue to empower women to lead, because change occurs after you take action, and action oc-

curs when you are inspired to lead. You are the epiphany of hope for future women leaders as you revolutionize the spir-it to empower women to find the courage, skills, and passion to envision Belize where both genders would be truly equal. Women are slowly advancing into leadership positions in our country, but it is not enough. We’re talking about very small and slow changes. It is crucial that we continue to advance women into positions that were previously dominated by men. I look forward to day when I see the first female Prime Minister of our country, as well as our fair share of leadership roles.

Dr. Angela Banner Joseph holds a doctorate degree in Edu-cational Leadership and Change from the Fielding Graduate Uni-versity

Page 23: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 23

The full PUP Social Justice Agenda is available at www.pup.org.bz

Page 24: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 24

Recipe of the week

Ingredients 2 pounds red snapper

fillets2 teaspoons salt1 teaspoon black pep-

per2 scallions, chopped2 tablespoons curry

powder2 tablespoons butter1/4 cup olive oil1 to 2 Scotch bon-

net peppers, seeded and chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed2 cups coconut milk1 cup water2 tomatoes, roughly

chopped2 onions, sliced 1/4-

inch thick10 cilantro sprigs

Curried Red SnapperPreparationCut the red snapper into small

pieces and place in a bowl. Season with the salt, black pepper, scallion, and curry powder.

Allow the fish to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

When you are ready to proceed, heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan.

Add the fish and saute until it is lightly browned on both sides. Add the peppers, garlic, coconut milk, water, to-matoes, and onions.

Cover the fish and bring to a boil.Reduce the heat, cover the pan,

and simmer until the fish is tender, about 20 to 25 minutes, adding more water if necessary.

Also, add a touch more curry, if necessary, for your taste. Finish with fresh cilantro leaves.

Serve with white rice and fried plantains.

Page 25: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 25

How

many

cats

can yo

u find

?

BRAIN SHARP! Can you count by 2s and get to the end of the worm’s tail?

CONNECT THE DOTS!

CONNECT THE DOTS! WORD SEARCHLook who is sleeping…can you connect the dots?

Page 26: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 26

SuPPOrTING SPOrTS IN OW SOuTH

BrAIN TeAser

See answers NEXT WEEk

SUDOKU PUZZle #58/2014

SuDoku PuZZLE SoLuTioN #57/2014Answers for last week’s puzzleAnswers for last week’s puzzle

See answers NEXT WEEk

Lonely is the home without you,Life to us is not the same;

All the world would be like heaven,

If we could have you back again.

A light from our household gone,

A voice we loved is still,A place is vacant in our home,

That never can be filled.

Always remembered,Always loved!

Greatly missed by wife: indira

Daughters: kimari and kyliFamily and Friends

Bert Leslie Bowden

In Loving Memory of a Beloved husband, father, son, brother

and friend

April 27, 1968 – March 18, 2011

Yo Creek Village, March 13, 2014In support of young people’s

involvement in positive activities, Area Representative Hon. Jose Mai co-sponsored football jerseys which were donated to Compas-sion School in Yo Creek Village.

The students of Compassion School are talented athletes and they hope to compete in upcoming sports tournaments.

In handing over the jerseys, Hon. Mai expressed his hope that the students reach their goals aca-demically and athletically. He men-tioned that he will continue to orga-nize sporting events in Yo Creek and other communities to young people the kind of additional positive activ-ities that will help them grow into productive citizens.

Principal Manuel Rejon thanked Hon. Mai for the continued help he has provided to Compassion School.

Hon. Mai & Principal Rejon

Page 27: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 27 barrow’s GSu vs.

barrow-Sponsored GSG

SCIENCE & TECHBELIZE TIMES WEEKLY

R E V I E W

Missing Malaysian jet can be found, even in deep ocean

18 March 2014 by Paul MarksWith the search for the miss-

ing Malaysia Airlines flight in its second week, there are fears that any wreckage may be too deep to find if it has crashed in the Indian Ocean.

But if it’s there search teams will find it, says David Gallo of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti-tution in Massachusetts. In 2011, he used three robot submarines to find Air France flight 447 beneath the Atlantic, 4 kilometres down.

“No depth is beyond our reach,” he told New Scientist. “Without doubt, if the aircraft is

below). Signals pinged from the jet to a geostationary satellite have led to air and sea searches along two vast corridors: north-west from Ma-

laysia towards Kazakhstan, and south-west out over the Indian Ocean, which has an average depth of 3900 metres but with trenches twice that deep in places.

No radar ruseNo country on

the northerly track has yet reported any civilian or mil-itary radar contact with the Boeing 777 after it lost

US National Transportation Safety Board, which has examined the data from the London-based glob-al satellite operator Inmarsat and estimated where the aircraft may have come down after its 7 hours 31 minutes in the air.

It is also possible the NTSB may have images of the missing airliner from spy satellites run by the US National Reconnaissance Office – run jointly by the National Security Agency and the Pentagon. “We don’t ever discuss our opera-tions or assets up there in space for security reasons. But the Depart-ment of Defense is working in sup-

in the oceans, given time we can, and will, find it – even in the deep-est and most rugged terrain.”

But first the searchers have to know where to look (see map

port of US Pacific Command efforts to find the missing aircraft,” says an NRO spokesperson.

If the plane came down in the sea, the potential depths at which wreckage may lie, in much deeper waters than the previous search in the South China Sea, has led to scepticism that the plane will ever be found.

But despite claims from in-vestigators that the aircraft was most likely deliberately steered off course by persons unknown after disabling its radar transponder and ACARS technical datalink, informed observers still see accidents – such as catastrophic depressurisation or an extended fire that released toxic fumes – as more plausible causes of the jet’s bizarre unplanned journey.

contact, nor has there been any sight-ings of wreckage on land. However residents of the island of Kuda Hu-vadhoo in the Maldives have reported seeing a low-flying jet on the morning that flight MH370 went missing, ac-cording to a local news website.

One Malaysian newspaper claimed there has been no radar con-tact because the aircraft had dropped to an altitude of 1500 metres to evade radar. But that altitude is not low enough for this to work - as pointed out by aviation website Flightglobal.

In the southern Indian Ocean the Australian Maritime Safety Authority is flying search missions 3000 kilome-tres west of Perth, West Australia. It is using satellite intelligence from the

The uS Navy is one of many parties helping the search (image: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric A. Pastor via The New york Times/Eyevine)

Page 28: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 28

Slow and Steady Wins

This past weekend was full of adventure, ex-citement and lots of water. Crowds surged and sighed to the rhythm of rough hewn paddles dipping into the dark green waters of the competition route. Shouts and ex-clamations grew louder and louder as the

steady stream of colorful canoes nosed their way down the stream towards the finish line. A frenzy of encouragements poured out of the people lining the river witnessing the end of the three day race.

I couldn’t help but think, however, that though the peo-ple went crazy with anticipation the closer those boats drew to the end of the race, the true goal for some of those participants was not to be the crew that crossed the fin-ish line first (although I’m sure most of them wanted to accomplish this). I saw in the determined set of the jaws and strong steady strokes of the paddlers that, even when a crew had already passed first, the race was not over. The goal changed from gaining the hype and acclaim of coming in first to an equally important challenge: finishing the race.

In life, a lot of pomp and circumstance goes to the peo-ple who start out strong with all the noise and excitement that a thrilling launch to a race will bring. They have lofty attitudes and are unspoiled to the rigors of the long journey. These people are strong. They’re tough. They’ve got half of the gambling room abuzz. These are the people everyone will tell you to watch, to count on. These are the winners. On the other side of the water wrestling match are the ‘no-bodies’. Nobody has heard of them and nobody cares about them. They are silent, watchful, and patient. The crowd does not roar when they pass. The only people who bet on them are those that enjoy putting money on the underdog. The gun goes off and the first group shoots out with frantic strokes, quickly putting distance between the other teams. The second group goes surely but slowly. The leader calling out a steady cadence, “one, two, three, four” and they dip their paddles together.

The La Ruta Maya race is similar to the journey of life. The strong currents pull everyone forward or backward, be they ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Though strength is a factor in reaching the finish line, the steadiness of the strokes push the boat farther than a hurried frenzy of paddle strokes do. In the end, those who continue on though their movements be slow and measured are the ones who finish the race. Isn’t it better for us to start slowly and finish than go off in a hurry and lose strength halfway to the goal? Paul stated in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”.

All of us may not have the prowess to cross the finish line first, but the honor of crossing the finish line is just as important.

Until next week,God bless.

Tremors

Tremors are u n i n t e n t i o n a l trembling or shak-ing movements in one or more parts of the body. Most tremors oc-cur in the hands. You can also have arm, head, face, vocal cord, trunk, and leg tremors. Tremors are most common in middle-aged and older people, but anyone can have them.

types of tremors:Physiologic (normal) tremor is most seen with different pos-

tures than with movement and minimally at rest. It can become more noticeable, especially in elderly people or in times of stress. This is due to a raised level of adrenaline in the body. Certain med-ications such as asthma medications like salbutamol can cause a noticeable normal tremor. Tremors can be associated with basal ganglia disease of the brain or with peripheral neuropathy. Tremors are frequent in alcoholics.

Essential tremor occurs mostly with posture and movement. It is a frequently recurring constant tremor. It has a genetic back-ground and runs in families, and there is no known illness or drug causing the tremor. It is uncontrollable and increases with anxiety. It commonly affects the arms and hands but can affect the head, jaw, tongue and feet. If and when an essential tremor becomes disabling the medical care should be sought.

The doctor will check for the type of tremor and severity. If a cause can be pinpointed then the cause should be treated if possi-ble. Tests should be done to rule out a metabolic problem, a thyroid problem or other medical problems.

Causes:Many medications can cause tremors, so a history of medica-

tion use or alcohol dependence or withdrawal should be investi-gated. These medications include anti-psychotics, antidepressants, caffeine, steroids, lithium, levodopa (used to treat Parkinson’s), an-tiepileptics, and amiodarone.

It is always important to try and determine the cause of the tremor, because some types are associated with other underlying disorders such as a dystonia or Parkinson’s disease or a brain dis-order such as a stroke in the cerebellum or brainstem. They can be associated with a peripheral neuropathy such as may occur in diabetics.

treatment:There is no cure for most tremors. Treatment to relieve them

depends on their cause. In many cases, medicines and sometimes surgical procedures can reduce or stop tremors and improve mus-cle control. Parkinson’s disease can be treated with medications and subsequent surgical procedures.

treatment:There are different types of medications to treat an essential

tremor including beta blockers (eg. propranolol) and benzodiaze-pines (eg. alprazolam). Use of alcohol also stops an essential trem-or. It is of note therefore that some medications used to stop a tremor can also exacerbate or increase the intensity of the same. The doctor and patient should be aware of this possibility.

Tremors are not life threatening. However, they can be embar-rassing and make it hard to perform daily tasks. Therefore, if a per-son finds the tremor affecting daily activities it is then probably time to consult a professional.

By Dr. John Sosa, Neurologist

Page 29: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 2929REGIONAL &

INTERNATIONAL NEWSTHE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014

Bin Laden son-in-law unexpectedly

testifies Teacher and Imam, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, says he made videos for al-Qaeda to counter US propa-

ganda about Muslims.

Mayor of San Cristobal, city hardest hit by anti-government protests, arrested for “civil rebellion”.

20 Mar 2014Osama bin Laden’s son-in-

law, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, has unexpectedly testified at his trial on terrorism-related charges and

denied that he had any role in al-Qaeda plots against the United States.

Abu Ghaith, 48, is one of the highest profile people with purported links to al-Qaeda to be tried in a US civilian court, Reuters news agency reported.

Prosecutors in federal court in New York have accused him of serving as a spokesman and recruiter for al-Qaeda and of knowing about planned attacks against Americans, accusations he denied on Wednesday.

Abu Ghaith’s decision to testify came a day after US District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that jurors would not hear testimony from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

Mohammed is being held at the US mili-tary prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abu Ghaith said on Wednesday that he met Mohammed while in Afghanistan but that they did not discuss any planned attacks.

Under questioning from his lawyer, Stanley Cohen, Abu Ghaith on Wednesday described meeting Osama bin Laden, a founder of al-Qae-da, in Afghanistan just hours after the hijacked plane attacks of September 11, 2001, which killed about 3,000 people.

20 Mar 2014V e n e z u e -

lan intelligence agents have ar-rested the oppo-

sition mayor of San Cristobal for “civil rebellion,” accusing him of stoking violence in the city hit harder than anywhere

20 Mar 2014Australia has

sent an aircraft to investigate two objects spotted

by satellite floating in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from a Malay-sian jetliner missing with 239 people on board, Prime Min-ister Tony Abbott said.

No confirmed wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found since it vanished from air traffic control screens off Malaysia’s east coast early on March 8,

less than an hour after taking off.

“New and credible in-formation has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern In-dian Ocean,” Abbott told the Australian parliament.

“The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has received information based on satellite imagery of ob-jects possibly related to the search.”

“Following specialist analysis of this satellite im-

agery, two possible ob-jects related to the search have been identified,” he said.

Abbott said he had al-ready spoken with his Ma-laysian counterpart Najib Razak and cautioned that the objects had yet to be identified, according to Reuters news agency.

The task of locating these objects will be ex-tremely difficult and it may turn out they are not related to the search for MH370,” Abbott said.

Opposition mayor arrested in Venezuela

20 Mar 2014The Libyan government has called on the

United Nations and international community to help fight what it called a war on terrorism as it struggles to stop the country sliding into

widening chaos and instability.The appeal came after a wave of bombings and as-

sassinations in the eastern city of Benghazi and clashes between pro-government forces and a rebel militia con-trolling major oil ports in Sirte in central Libya.

The violence is part of turmoil in the North African country where the government in unable to control mili-tias that helped overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their weapons to grab oil wealth and power.

“Terrorist groups” had declared war on Benghazi, Sirte and other cities, the government said. A powerful car bomb targeting an army academy killed at least eight people in Benghazi on Monday.

“Libya’s interim government asks the international community and especially the United Nations to provide assistance to uproot terrorism,” the government said in a statement posted on its website late on Wednesday.

Appeal comes after wave of bombings and assassina-tions, and clashes between government and militias.

Libya asks world to help it fight ‘terrorism’ Australia spots objects

‘possibly’ from plane Prime Minister tells parliament airforce plane sent to ocean

location of objects possibly related to Malaysia plane.

by more than a month of un-rest.

Interior Minister Miguel Ro-driguez Torres, who also heads the national intelligence service Sebin, told state TV that Sebin agents detained Daniel Cebal-los while acting on an order from a court in western Tachira

state.“This is an act of justice for a mayor

who not only failed to meet his obligations under the law, but also facilitated and sup-ported all the irrational violence in this city,” he said.

“In the coming hours he will be pre-sented before the corresponding tribunals to begin the judgment process.”

Page 30: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 30

What is eric chang hiding?Belize City, March 17, 2014

Eric Chang continues to serve as a UDP Belize City Councillor even though a dark cloud of notorious mys-tery hangs over his head.

Chang has yet to come clean about his involvement in the Kim Won Hong nationality/passport scandal along with disgraced and corrupt for-mer Minister of State Elvin Penner.

For unexplained reasons, Chang “disappeared” from Belize for sev-eral months right after September last year. This was exactly around the time during the Independence cele-brations last year when the scandal broke out that UDP area representa-tive and then Minister of State Elvin Penner had given a fraudulent Belize passport to a South Korean Kim Won Hong who was at the time in a Taiwan prison.

Chang’s name also surfaced as a major player.

The unconfirmed report was that Chang was the special courier who personally took the illegal passport to Taiwan to Kim and who “collected” for the favour.

With the serious allegation up in the air, Chang should have flown to Belize immediately to clear his name but he chose to stay away and leave all answers unanswered. He was re-portedly in Taiwan, where Kim and the illegal Belizean passport also were, and no one knew how long he would be away.

Chang’s absence caused major

headaches for the Belize City Council. At the time, Chang was the second in command at City Hall, after Mayor Darrel Bradley. He was put in charge of Infrastructure Works. May-or Darrel Bradley claimed that he attempted to call Chang several times, but not even he could reach him.

The absentee Deputy Mayor had also be-come toxic for the UDP-led City Council. In interviews, the Mayor was as suspicious as every other Belizean who was following the passport scandal. Bradley said he was aware of the “serious allegations” against Chang. He said that his refusal to return to Belize had become “worrisome”. Chang’s possible involvement in the passport scandal was a “cloud around the council and around the

central government” stated the Mayor. He added that he believes Chang should make a public statement and come clean.

Aware of the political scandal that was surround-ing the passport issue, the Council eventually decided to strip Chang of his Depu-ty Mayor’s status and Works portfolio. This is after he re-fused to return to Belize, and explain what he was running away from for almost three months.

Mayor Bradley may have given way to a new Deputy Mayor but the strategy to downplay the scandal has done little to clear the air and

Chang’s name. If Chang was the one who took the fraudulent Belize passport to Taiwan, he is as guilty as Elvin Penner is of criminal wrongdoing. He should be arrested, questioned and charged if necessary.

The Police should immediately re-quest Interpol’s assistance in investi-gating Chang’s travelling dates and his alleged visit to the prison which housed Kim Won Hong.

Instead, Chang is going about as if he is Mr. Untouchable. He is back in the country, moving around clandestinely. He is still collecting a salary from the Belize City Council and attending UDP political events. He was last seen at the UDP Belize Rural Central convention hiding in his dark-tinted SUV and at the UDP Fort George convention support-ing his Council colleague Roger Espejo.

Chang’s behavior since the pass-port scandal in September is highly suspicious. Why is he hiding, what is he hiding?

A majori-ty of Belizeans strongly believe that Chang is involved in the passport fiasco and believe that he should also face a criminal i nvest iga t ion . Such an inves-tigation appar-ently also fall in the “discretion” assumed by the political Com-missioner of Po-lice.

The Lord and his Minions

The Lord and Erwin Contreras

Erwin Contreras and Ralph Huang

The Lord and the Prime Minister’s wife kim Barrow

Secret meeting with the Lord and UDP officials

Page 31: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES23 MAR 2014 31

PUP Mourns passing of PG Deputy Mayor simon Paulino

Reckless driver!!!

Continued from page 3

THIS MAY SPOIL YOUR WEEKENDFamily of Slain Cop questions Investigation

CartooN

DEsGraCIa!!Chetumal media sniffs out criminal

Elvin PennerBelize City, March 20, 2014

The BELIZE TIMES reports to our con-cerned Belizeans that even the media in Chetumal has shown interest in the arrest of the disgraced UDP Cayo North East Area Representative Elvin Penner for his criminal wrongdoings.

Last week the BELIZE TIMES reported that even though the Supreme Court has ordered the Commissioner of Police to ac-celerate their investigation into Penner’s issuance of fraudulent Belizean nationali-ty and passport to South Korean Kim Won Hong who was at a Taiwan prison at the time, Penner is roaming free and was even seen shopping and vacationing in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico last weekend.

Penner, the ComPol and the UDP con-tinue to thumb their noses at the authority of the Supreme Court and the loud calls for action made by the Opposition, social part-ners and every right-thinking Belizean.

The Chetumal newspaper, Diario de Quintana Roo, picked up the report and also published it in their newspaper under the title “Belizean forger spotted on the Boule-vard” (The Boulevard is a popular seaside section of Chetumal lined with well-known restaurants and clubs).

In the report, the Diario calls Penner a fugitive of the law and they ask why it is that the Commissioner did not seek the as-sistance of Mexican law officials to detain Penner.

March 11, 2014The People’s United Party

wishes to record our profound sadness at the passing of Simon “Pau” Paulino.

Mr. Paulino served as a PUP Deputy Mayor elected in March 2012 under the leadership of Punta Gorda Mayor Anthony Fuentes and PUP Leader Hon. Francis Fonseca.

Mr. Paulino was a well-respect-ed elder resident of Punta Gorda known for his profound connection with the people of the communi-ties.

We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and the PUP PG family.

Page 32: Belize Times March 23, 2014

THE BELIZE TIMES 23 MAR2014 32